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Secondary education

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Boarder at Whitgift school

8 replies

Sam2518 · 13/06/2016 16:32

My son just received an offer place as a year9 boarder at whitgift school for 2018 entry. We are from overseas and we have never visited the school before. If anyone knows anything about boarding at whitgift please help us with your comments.

Thanks

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Decorhate · 13/06/2016 20:28

I know a boy who went as a day pupil & I think his family used to host an overseas boarder at weekends & in the holidays. Other than that I know nothing!

Sam2518 · 14/06/2016 02:56

Thanks Decorhate.

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willhazboz · 14/06/2016 03:28

My cousin used to teach at whitgift. Don't know a huge amount other than he said it was a good school and the food was good!

Sam2518 · 14/06/2016 04:16

Thanks willhazboz. I also heard that it is very good for sporty boy. But I worried about number of full boarders are not much so my son could be very lonely at weekend.

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Ahwoo · 14/06/2016 05:42

Sam
Congrats to your DS on the offer.

The school is very sporty, gets good results and seems to a desirable destination for many 11+ parents on the London circuit (there are ample threads on MN discussing admissions/waitlists/tutors etc).

But it is primarily a Day school. Boarders I think make up fewer than 10% of the student population. Its roughly 1000+ students, of which only 80 are boarders. Spread across 5 age groups, that's fewer than 16 boarding students in your son's year. Note too that some of the boarders are weekly boarders also, i.e. they won't be around on the weekends unless they have sports/club/music commitments. My point here is, if your DS is the easy going or the 'likes-to-be-left-alone' sort then he should be fine. However, if he likes the company of others, or has specific types that he mingles best with then he may find his weekends a little lonely.

That said, the boarding house is new (yes I visited), the furnishings are quite good and the matron and the staff are friendly. Shared rooms in the lower years but there was ample workspace for the boys in each room. The food, however, I heard contrasting comments, some liked it but others said they couldn't wait to go home at weekends to have home cooking instead.

As your son isn't due to start until Sept 2018, I would urge you to visit, if you can, before making your choice.
Are you looking at other schools as well?

If you have further questions feel free to pm me.

Sam2518 · 14/06/2016 07:20

Ah woo

Thanks so much for your comment. If I have more questions I will pm you

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AnotherNewt · 14/06/2016 07:36

Whit gift is very sporty, so you're fine on that.

Everyone I've known who boards there does so weekly, so you do need to check how many are there at weekends. Once he's been there for a while, he might get frequent invitations to friends' houses (check the school policy on letting them out for that), so I suspect it would all turn out OK over time, but could be a difficult start.

There is a push to expand boarding, but it's fairly recent.

Sam2518 · 14/06/2016 15:22

AnotherNewt

Thanks for your comment . My son loves football so much. I wish he would be fine to be full boarder at Whitgift school.

Thanks

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